The combination of these men’s skills and Bozzuto’s reputation as an honest and fair partner has enabled the company to build more than 10,000 apartments and have a successful home building division, which includes single-family homes, condominiums and townhomes.
Almost all of The Bozzuto Group’s projects have been built in planned communities. One of the reasons The Bozzuto Group participates in these types of projects is because the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has tried to control growth by requiring it to occur within planned communities rather than scattered in a helter-skelter fashion along the roadside, says Bozzuto. “People should live in communities, not in projects stretched out along the side of the road,” he says. Plus, the company likes to build its homes near stores, where there are employment opportunities for its residents.
“People think of us when doing planned communities because we’re willing to come up with a product that will fit in and we have a track record of doing so,” says Bozzuto.
The majority of the company’s product is class A garden-style and high-rise multifamily housing, says Julie Smith, president of Bozzuto Management Co. and a partner at The Bozzuto Group. The company is known for developing high-quality product that complements the existing environment.
It’s the little things that make the properties stand out. For instance, at every Bozzuto community there is a courtesy shelf by the front door of every unit. It gives residents a place to put their bags down so they can open up their door, says Smith. Other touches include having at least a 14-foot wall in every bedroom to accommodate any size bed and a linen closet in every unit.
A Constant Attitude The company was built on successful joint venture deals. These deals have enabled the company to be flexible and respond to market changes. “When you take 100 percent of the rewards, you also take 100 percent of the risk,” explains Slidell. “We are more comfortable sharing the risk and giving up some reward. It’s a conservative strategy to build business over the long term. If one or two things go wrong in a big way, they can’t kill us.”
This conservative attitude extends to other aspects of the company’s business. In fact, the company uses a limited number of suppliers. It stems from the company’s philosophy of relationships. Both The Bozzuto Group and the suppliers depend on each other.
“They know that when we’re in a recession, we’re here, we’re still building and they become dependent on us and so they provide us extraordinary service, generally better pricing and good quality,” explains Bozzuto. “In turn, we provide them a reliable source of future business.”
And, during these uncertain times, many real estate companies are trying to figure out how they can obtain capital to do future business. But, The Bozzuto Group doesn’t have those worries because the company established a fund that has allocated $130 million for real estate transactions.
In the fall of 2000, the company anticipated a recession, because the partners thought the good times had gone on too long and a recession was possible. “We didn’t know what would happen in the capital markets as it relates to availability of equity money for apartment joint ventures,” says Bozzuto. “So, we talked to a few of the institutions with whom we had existing relationships and ultimately entered into an agreement with a company that’s a subsidiary of CIGNA Corp. but operates under the name of TimesSquare Real Estate Investors (TSREI).”
The Bozzuto Group has had a relationship with CIGNA for more than 18 years. CIGNA chose The Bozzuto Group to work with because of its successful past experiences with the company, says Ivy Freedman, senior vice president of TSREI. “They have demonstrated the expertise and relationship orientation that we look for in a partner. The culture and leadership at The Bozzuto Group is very focused on achieving superior results for their partners. All of our projects with them have been very successful and well conceived.”